By government's 'grace', SSLC pass percentage touches 73%

Bengaluru: In an unprecedented result, Karnataka saw a 10 percentage point dip in the number of students clearing the first of three Class 10 Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) exams whose results were out Thursday.

The drop would have been steeper if it wasn’t for the government liberally awarding grace marks to 1.70 lakh students to help them pass.

According to the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB), the pass percentage is 73.40 against 83.89 last year. If there were no grace marks given, the pass percentage would be 54 per cent.

"The pass percentage declined by 30 percentage points over last year. Hence, the government has decided to enhance the normalisation in the interest of students," KSEAB chairperson Manjushree N said.

Principal Secretary (School Education) Ritesh Kumar Singh said the pass percentage fell because of webcasting introduced in the exam halls to curb malpractices. "This didn't give room for malpractices," he said.

To push up the pass percentage, authorities changed the criteria for awarding grace marks to students. A maximum of 10 marks were given as grace to a student who narrowly failed in at least three subjects.

"The qualifying marks for attracting grace were reduced from the existing 35 per cent to 25 per cent. Grace marks have been increased from 10 per cent to 20 per cent in all subjects as a one-time measure. After normalisation, the pass percentage rose to 73.40 per cent," Manjushree explained.

Defending the decision, Singh said: "We have no intention of failing any student. Webcasting was a student-friendly measure adopted to uphold the integrity of the exam." He urged students who failed not to worry as there will be two more exams. The KSEAB has planned a month-long remedial teaching for students who failed. Students who want to improve their marks by appearing for the second exam can also attend the remedial teaching.

According to KSEAB data, 1.65 lakh students secured 'C' grace (35-49 per cent) and they make up 23.66 per cent of the overall result. There were 19,301 (2.80 per cent) 'C' grade students last year. "A majority of 'C' grade students passed because of grace marks," an official said.

The government's decision to improve pass percentage by awarding grace marks attracted criticism.

"What was the need to increase pass percentage by doing this?" former school education & literacy minister B C Nagesh said, slamming the government for giving "least importance" to quality education.

B N Yogananda, president, Karnataka School College Parents Associations Coordination Committee, wondered why the government introduced anti-malpractice measures "when it had decided to give grace marks" to help students pass.

"By giving grace marks, the government has no intention to improve the quality of education," D Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Primary & Secondary Schools in Karnataka said.